Chapter 13. Storing XML in Oracle Berkeley DB XML

Traditionally, XML has been stored in a relational database by mapping the XML document structures to the rows and columns of a database table. Storing an XML document in a relational database has its limitations. XML's hierarchical structures of elements and element attributes do not map well to relational database structures. An XML document has a top-level element, element attributes, and may have 'n' levels of elements within the top-level element. In comparison, a relational database has tables, which have a grid of columns and rows. That's where an embeddable XML database with its support for hierarchical data structures has advantages over a relational one. "Embedded" does not imply it is embedded in embedded devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. For embedded databases, "embedded" implies integrated with an application from which the database data is accessed. Oracle database (since Oracle 9i database R2) provides the Oracle XML...